burden of deforestation, desertification, erosion of ... - Social Watch

According to ANAM’s Environment Information
System figures, desertification is taking hold at an
alarming rate. In 1970 some 70% of the country was
under forest cover but by 2011 this had been reduced
to around 35%.The last in-depth report on the situation
dates from 2000, and it shows that forest coverage
in 1992 amounted to 49% of the country, but
by 2000 (in just eight years) it had shrunk to 45%. 8
Water pollution
Environmental protection organizations have reported
that important sources of fresh water near
the Panama Canal valley have been polluted by the
operations of two gold and copper mining projects in
the Petaquilla and Molejones area, 100 km from the
capital. These groups monitored the situation, and
water and sediment from sources near the mining
area were analysed. The tests showed that the water
has high levels of suspended solids and excessive
turbidity. Little by little the pollution is negatively
affecting the natural environment in very serious
ways. 9 These organizations have repeatedly warned
the authorities that the levels of substances in
rivers potentially dangerous to the environment and
to people’s health may increase. But instead of paying
due attention to this threat, the Government
has persisted in its policy of promoting activities that
are not sustainable and cause pollution – mining is
a prime example – as a strategy for economic development.
In fact, the Government has made a series
of changes to the mining laws to make it easier for
various transnational mining enterprises to operate
in the country. 10
Access to potable water
According to a UN report on Panama’s progress
towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),
large sectors of the population do not have access to
potable water. This problem is most acute in rural
areas, indigenous communities and some marginalized
urban areas on the outskirts of cities where
most of the people are of mixed race or of African
descent. The situation as regards access to improved
sewage facilities is similar, and rural and indigenous
population groups suffer the consequences of this
unequal distribution of services. 11
8 L. Vidal Berrío, “Cobertura boscosa se reduce 50%,” Capital,
(6 June 2011), .
9 Teorema Ambiental, “Advierten sobre el riesgo de
contaminación de agua en Panamá.”, Teorema Ambental,
Revista Técnico Ambiental, .
10 In a statement to the media the Minister of Trade said,
“Adjustment (to the Mining Code) is needed as one of the
countries interested in investing in the Donoso copper mine
project in the province of Colón is the Republic of Korea, since
numeral 1, article 4 of Decree Law 23, prohibits the granting of
mining concessions to foreign governments or countries.” In
La Estrella.com.pa,(1 September 2010), .
11 See: .
TABLE 1
Poverty rate by area (%)
Details
The MDG report also states that the precarious
settlement populations are far from being able to
satisfy their basic needs. Most are families in the grip
of poverty and unemployment and have no other alternative
in their search for a place to live. The report
recognizes that there is a close connection between
illiteracy and poverty that subsequently translates
into other inequalities including limited access to
health services and decent housing, gender inequality,
reduced political participation and a lack of protection
for the environment. 12
According to a Levels of Life Survey (ENV) that
was carried out in Panama in 2003, some 36.8% of
the population were living in poverty, defined as an
income of less than USD 100 a month, and 16.6%
were living in extreme poverty. In 2008 a similar
study found there had been a slight improvement
with poverty falling to 32.7% and extreme poverty
to 14.4%. 13
In urban areas where migrants from the countryside
are swelling the population without government
planning for urban growth, the overall poverty
rate is 20%, and 4.4% of the people are in extreme
poverty. In non-indigenous rural areas more than
half the population (54%) is still living in poverty,
and over one in five of these people (22%) are in extreme
poverty. In indigenous rural areas the situation
is extremely critical as nearly the whole population
(98.4%) is in poverty, and the extreme poverty rate
is 90%. 14
Gender inequality and poverty
If Panama is to overcome poverty and social exclusion,
it has to tackle problems of social and gender
inequality. Currently, women and children are more
vulnerable to poverty than are men and have fewer
opportunities to escape it. Poverty in general is high,
but this is even more worrying when we consider its
scope and impact by age brackets or ethnicity.
12 Ibid.
13 Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas de Panama, Encuesta
Niveles de Vida, (Panama, Panama City: 2008).
14 Ibid,,La Pobreza En Panamá, Encuesta de Niveles de Vida –
2003 Principales. Resultados, Edición Revisada, (2005).
Social Watch 155 Panama
General poverty rate (%)
1997 2003 2008
Country total 37.3 36.8 32.7
Urban 15.3 20.0 17.7
Rural total 64.9 62.7 59.7
Rural non-indigenous 58.7 54.0 50.7
Rural indigenous 95.4 98.4 96.3
Source : Encuesta de Niveles de Vida 2008. Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas, Panamá.
Gender inequalities can be seen most clearly
in the labour market. According to official figures,
women’s earnings were only 57% of men’s earnings in
2009. Although women make up half the population a
large percentage of women of productive age (51.7%)
are not involved in the formal workforce, which is a
major factor in the country’s poverty profile. Women
are still the most vulnerable group in the labour market,
and most of the work they do is not paid at all. According
to the 2009 household survey, some 80.9% of
the economically active male population had jobs, but
only 48.3% of the economically active female population
was gainfully employed. In 2009, the unemployment
rate among women was 9.27%, which contrasts
sharply to the 5.25% rate among men. 15
Women’s situation is better in the education
field. Statistics show they are an average of two percentage
points ahead of men in access to schooling.
Girls of the younger generations have greater access
to education than their mothers and grandmothers
had, but in some indigenous areas the schooling
indicator for women is lower than that for men. 16
Conclusion
Panama’s approach to economic development ignores
sustainability and has led to a degradation of its environmental
resources while having only minimal impact
in improving the lives and well-being of the majority
of its people. Deforestation, desertification, water pollution,
accessibility to potable water, and inadequate
sewage facilities threaten the environment and the very
health of the Panamanian people. Especially affected
are migrants from the countryside in overcrowded settlements
in towns and cities and the rural population,
notably those in indigenous communities, which suffer
from severe and sometimes extreme poverty. Women,
particularly, have been hard-hit by economic development
models that look first to benefit wealthy national
elites and their international partners and investors. n
15 MInisterio de Controlaria de Panama, Encuesta Continua
de Hogares 2009, .
16 Atlas de Desarrollo Humano y Objetivos del Milenio, (2010).